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Here are a few immediate thoughts and reactions to Tom Herman's historic "Town Hall" of sorts hosted by Anwar Richardson here on Orangebloods:
Herman said that "in times like these, you want to reach out to those who are invested in the enterprise you run."
- He thanked Anwar and Ketch for putting all of this together and said he felt "so removed - I can't see the players, the fans, the people I work with." He thanked the fans for all of their support. I think it is really cool that it was Herman's idea that he said he reached out to Anwar regarding.
Herman likes his steak medium-rare.
- Good man.
Herman said he wanted to make sure these aren't all softball questions. Said he wanted to jump into some strategy and philosophy that might help people understand what the team is doing.
- Love it.
NO BEANS!!!!!
- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Herman said he did grow up in Cincy and spent holidays there, so he's partial to Skyline Chili and the way they make it, but as for chili in a bowl or in spaghetti (?) no beans. My question now is, where does spaghetti come in here? Does he put chili in spaghetti.
Herman was asked about Joe Exotic being a Longhorn fan
- "They come in all shapes and sizes," he said, lmao. He talked about some other shows he watched like Ozark. Herman was tilted that his wife left him out for much of season 2 watching it on her own. To his point, I am in a similar situation, but have found season 3 to be pretty damn engaging and good even though I missed some of season 2. His suggestions for binge-watch shows for the fans: True Detective Season 1 (IMO (not Herman's) the only good season of the show) and Breaking Bad. Coach is on fire.
Tom Herman "didn't get into" the Wire ...
- Well, he was on fire ...
Favorite BBQ restaurant in Austin
- Herman loves the sauce at the Salt Lick, calls the meat "good," he is correct. Franklin's is phenomenal. He also mentioned Black's, Terry Black's, Cooper's as well. He correctly said no airport salt lick.
"He's great, if we played a game tomorrow he would play." RE: Sam Ehlinger.
- Herman revealed that Ehlinger had hurt a "floating rib" which is not connected to the sternum. He re-aggravated it in the winter, it didn't re-break but had a stress reaction which was troublesome. Herman says he would have been out there for practice one of spring ball. My takeaway is that Ehlinger is one tough son of a bitch. Herman says a silver lining of no spring ball is giving him all the time in the world to heal.
Herman was interviewed for the head coaching job at Texas in a room at Hampton Inn in Bastrop.
- Greg Fenves at the time told him "our football team is broken." I guess that is not how I pictured that interview going down at all, in any way, really.
Herman mentioned the negativity of the media is something that he views as negative about his time here.
- Well, doing things like this will help. So will winning. Herman even admitted in Columbus, where the media was nicer(?) and not as negative, they had won 24 straight games and a national championship. "If you want to criticize a play we called, that's your job ... I feel like there's times at Texas where you win the game, but it wasn't by enough." Herman said it's "never ending," but wanted to make sure he wasn't seen as complaining. To be truthful, it is a bit of a complaining answer. He makes $5MM a year to deal with the same Texas fans every other coach has.
Compete for Conference Championships, New Years 6 Bowl games should be "the bar" for success
- Herman agreed with @Ketchum that this is how you gauge a successful season in his book. "The goal is conference championship, New Year's 6 or playoffs, but, if for whatever reason we fall short of that goal it doesn't mean the season was a failure, it just could mean you had circumstances come up to where you fell short of the goal." Injuries, poor coaching, teams in the conference who are especially powerful that year, etc.
Herman mentioned he took over after the worst three-season stretch in the history of the program
- This is true, but his first three seasons have been pretty high up on the list of worst three in a row as well, certainly going back to the turn of the century at least, as there were some rough patches in the 90s under Mackovic and McWilliams. Outside of 2018, where Herman admitted the team "overachieved," it's been kind of similar.
Thank God someone asked about why so few 4 WR sets
"1) if you put a 4th WR on the field ... you are limited extremely in what run plays you can run, zone read, a draw that's it. What we try to do is we're going to base out of 11 personnel because that gives us the best opportunity to run and throw and be balanced." He says based on that personnel, it insures that teams won't go into certain packages like dime, etc. He did say that "we don't flex him out very often," which is simply not true. Texas split its TEs out just under 36% of the time they were on the field in 2019.
"TE Jared Wiley is a future NFL player"
Herman spent a good while explaining how the team wasn't tipping plays based on alignment last year
- He had that planned out.
When talking over options of who he would go to in 4th and 9 from the 9 in the National Championship he said "think players, not plays."
- I love that. The only player he mentioned in going through names of various WRs he'd consider who was actually on this year's roster was Brennan Eagles. That's something to remember. Eagles will have a big chance to step up this season, he has elite upside.
"I couldn't believe they were able to do this ..."
- Herman said this of the guys who made his analytics binder. Man - He loves that binder. Did mention that his wife is always of the "take the points" mindset and asks him why he didn't go for the field goal which is hilarious. Herman has to weigh his wife's future complaining versus what the numbers say to do situationally. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place lmaooooo. Another interesting note on the binder is that it gets changed every week based on the team's various efficiency numbers up to that point in the season as well as the specific opponent's.
"I felt that I had become a jack of all trades and a master of none."
- Herman said that being a primary play caller coupled with his duties as head coach, he wasn't being the best HC he could be. He said he also hadn't done a great job overseeing the defense. It feels like he thought it was unsustainable to go on as he had and that was the reason for firing both coordinators. Mentioned that Applewhite was great for him and sees Yurcich in the same way. On defense, he admitted the buck stops with him, but 7-5 is not good enough at Texas and they didn't do a good job playing to their strengths and developing the talent they have. He also said he didn't ever view anything as a get out of jail free card due to his great relationship with AD Chris Del Conte. He said if you look at the contracts CDC allowed him to give by years and dollar-amount, there is a long-term commitment in place.
All of that makes sense, especially in the current economic environment. Some of the Texas BMD's work in the oil industry which has been hard hit and some possibly could not be in the same financial position as usual over the near-term to pay buyouts on failed coaches even if they'd like to.
Herman has a recruiting call with a "big-time superstar from the Metroplex at 2pm".
- Any guesses who?
"That thing blew up in the media, I've been doing that since I was a coordinator ..."
- I still think the whole head-butting thing was beyond cockamamie.
On the shift from a 3-4 to a 4-3 and defensive nuggets in general:
- Herman said you have to get pressure on the QB and when you play exclusively a 0-tech nose and two ends in 4-techs, it's very difficult to do without blitzing. He said it was like having to rob Peter to pay Paul to get a pass rush. Allowing guys to play on edges of offensive lineman is advantageous, especially with the young guys coming in -- Vernon Broughton and Alfred Collins.
- Ash wants to be "simple but not predictable," I love that - especially with what will be a shortened time to learn it.
- Talked about the JACK role and mentioned Ossai, Hobbs, Dorbah. He went over the rest of the defensive projected depth chart across the front and it matched up exactly with my most recent projection.
- Chris Adimora and Anthony Cook will battle at nickel, also as I've projected. One interesting thing is that the nickel corners will work with the linebackers and not the cornerbacks this season as their drops are tied mostly to the LBs, the technical term for the position of nickel in Ash's defense is the "spur".
- Herman agreed with a commenter that Moro Ojomo is underrated.
- One thing I didn't know is that Jay Valai was a trainer in Dallas who is tied into all the private trainers and coaches up there in the metroplex. Lots of recruiting ties. Those guys like Clay Mack and David Robinson, etc, all work with the future NFL kids and knowing them and trusting they'll not BS you is something I've always found super-helpful, I can only imagine how much it would mean to a coach.
"That's a huge misnomer for fans"
- That it is somebody's offense. Herman said you have to play to the strengths of your personnel. He said everything done offensively will have his seal of approval, but Yurcich have brought some really good ideas and he's been open to allowing him to implement some of those ideas, however, Yurcich is learning "our language" terminology-wise to make things easier on the players. "I can't tell you how pleased I've been with Mike Yurcich," Herman said. Called it a "match made in heaven."
Who do you want on the bench?
- Herman's answer to those asking why it shouldn't be a rule that Jake Smith and Jordan Whittington should both be on the field at the same time. My answer to his question would be basically anybody not named Eagles as for the wide receiver position. He also said both players are built to be slot WRs right as his computer's battery went out.
What a hell of a win it was for OB and our community to get an opportunity like this. Hope you enjoyed it as much as us and thanks so much to Tom Herman and the Texas SID department as well as @Anwar Richardson and @Ketchum for making it happen.
The Absolute BEST in family and cosmetic dentistry for the Houston-Memorial Area
Now Accepting New Patients --- 281-293-9140
Here are a few immediate thoughts and reactions to Tom Herman's historic "Town Hall" of sorts hosted by Anwar Richardson here on Orangebloods:
Herman said that "in times like these, you want to reach out to those who are invested in the enterprise you run."
- He thanked Anwar and Ketch for putting all of this together and said he felt "so removed - I can't see the players, the fans, the people I work with." He thanked the fans for all of their support. I think it is really cool that it was Herman's idea that he said he reached out to Anwar regarding.
Herman likes his steak medium-rare.
- Good man.
Herman said he wanted to make sure these aren't all softball questions. Said he wanted to jump into some strategy and philosophy that might help people understand what the team is doing.
- Love it.
NO BEANS!!!!!
- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Herman said he did grow up in Cincy and spent holidays there, so he's partial to Skyline Chili and the way they make it, but as for chili in a bowl or in spaghetti (?) no beans. My question now is, where does spaghetti come in here? Does he put chili in spaghetti.
Herman was asked about Joe Exotic being a Longhorn fan
- "They come in all shapes and sizes," he said, lmao. He talked about some other shows he watched like Ozark. Herman was tilted that his wife left him out for much of season 2 watching it on her own. To his point, I am in a similar situation, but have found season 3 to be pretty damn engaging and good even though I missed some of season 2. His suggestions for binge-watch shows for the fans: True Detective Season 1 (IMO (not Herman's) the only good season of the show) and Breaking Bad. Coach is on fire.
Tom Herman "didn't get into" the Wire ...
- Well, he was on fire ...
Favorite BBQ restaurant in Austin
- Herman loves the sauce at the Salt Lick, calls the meat "good," he is correct. Franklin's is phenomenal. He also mentioned Black's, Terry Black's, Cooper's as well. He correctly said no airport salt lick.
"He's great, if we played a game tomorrow he would play." RE: Sam Ehlinger.
- Herman revealed that Ehlinger had hurt a "floating rib" which is not connected to the sternum. He re-aggravated it in the winter, it didn't re-break but had a stress reaction which was troublesome. Herman says he would have been out there for practice one of spring ball. My takeaway is that Ehlinger is one tough son of a bitch. Herman says a silver lining of no spring ball is giving him all the time in the world to heal.
Herman was interviewed for the head coaching job at Texas in a room at Hampton Inn in Bastrop.
- Greg Fenves at the time told him "our football team is broken." I guess that is not how I pictured that interview going down at all, in any way, really.
Herman mentioned the negativity of the media is something that he views as negative about his time here.
- Well, doing things like this will help. So will winning. Herman even admitted in Columbus, where the media was nicer(?) and not as negative, they had won 24 straight games and a national championship. "If you want to criticize a play we called, that's your job ... I feel like there's times at Texas where you win the game, but it wasn't by enough." Herman said it's "never ending," but wanted to make sure he wasn't seen as complaining. To be truthful, it is a bit of a complaining answer. He makes $5MM a year to deal with the same Texas fans every other coach has.
Compete for Conference Championships, New Years 6 Bowl games should be "the bar" for success
- Herman agreed with @Ketchum that this is how you gauge a successful season in his book. "The goal is conference championship, New Year's 6 or playoffs, but, if for whatever reason we fall short of that goal it doesn't mean the season was a failure, it just could mean you had circumstances come up to where you fell short of the goal." Injuries, poor coaching, teams in the conference who are especially powerful that year, etc.
Herman mentioned he took over after the worst three-season stretch in the history of the program
- This is true, but his first three seasons have been pretty high up on the list of worst three in a row as well, certainly going back to the turn of the century at least, as there were some rough patches in the 90s under Mackovic and McWilliams. Outside of 2018, where Herman admitted the team "overachieved," it's been kind of similar.
Thank God someone asked about why so few 4 WR sets
"1) if you put a 4th WR on the field ... you are limited extremely in what run plays you can run, zone read, a draw that's it. What we try to do is we're going to base out of 11 personnel because that gives us the best opportunity to run and throw and be balanced." He says based on that personnel, it insures that teams won't go into certain packages like dime, etc. He did say that "we don't flex him out very often," which is simply not true. Texas split its TEs out just under 36% of the time they were on the field in 2019.
"TE Jared Wiley is a future NFL player"
Herman spent a good while explaining how the team wasn't tipping plays based on alignment last year
- He had that planned out.
When talking over options of who he would go to in 4th and 9 from the 9 in the National Championship he said "think players, not plays."
- I love that. The only player he mentioned in going through names of various WRs he'd consider who was actually on this year's roster was Brennan Eagles. That's something to remember. Eagles will have a big chance to step up this season, he has elite upside.
"I couldn't believe they were able to do this ..."
- Herman said this of the guys who made his analytics binder. Man - He loves that binder. Did mention that his wife is always of the "take the points" mindset and asks him why he didn't go for the field goal which is hilarious. Herman has to weigh his wife's future complaining versus what the numbers say to do situationally. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place lmaooooo. Another interesting note on the binder is that it gets changed every week based on the team's various efficiency numbers up to that point in the season as well as the specific opponent's.
"I felt that I had become a jack of all trades and a master of none."
- Herman said that being a primary play caller coupled with his duties as head coach, he wasn't being the best HC he could be. He said he also hadn't done a great job overseeing the defense. It feels like he thought it was unsustainable to go on as he had and that was the reason for firing both coordinators. Mentioned that Applewhite was great for him and sees Yurcich in the same way. On defense, he admitted the buck stops with him, but 7-5 is not good enough at Texas and they didn't do a good job playing to their strengths and developing the talent they have. He also said he didn't ever view anything as a get out of jail free card due to his great relationship with AD Chris Del Conte. He said if you look at the contracts CDC allowed him to give by years and dollar-amount, there is a long-term commitment in place.
All of that makes sense, especially in the current economic environment. Some of the Texas BMD's work in the oil industry which has been hard hit and some possibly could not be in the same financial position as usual over the near-term to pay buyouts on failed coaches even if they'd like to.
Herman has a recruiting call with a "big-time superstar from the Metroplex at 2pm".
- Any guesses who?
"That thing blew up in the media, I've been doing that since I was a coordinator ..."
- I still think the whole head-butting thing was beyond cockamamie.
On the shift from a 3-4 to a 4-3 and defensive nuggets in general:
- Herman said you have to get pressure on the QB and when you play exclusively a 0-tech nose and two ends in 4-techs, it's very difficult to do without blitzing. He said it was like having to rob Peter to pay Paul to get a pass rush. Allowing guys to play on edges of offensive lineman is advantageous, especially with the young guys coming in -- Vernon Broughton and Alfred Collins.
- Ash wants to be "simple but not predictable," I love that - especially with what will be a shortened time to learn it.
- Talked about the JACK role and mentioned Ossai, Hobbs, Dorbah. He went over the rest of the defensive projected depth chart across the front and it matched up exactly with my most recent projection.
- Chris Adimora and Anthony Cook will battle at nickel, also as I've projected. One interesting thing is that the nickel corners will work with the linebackers and not the cornerbacks this season as their drops are tied mostly to the LBs, the technical term for the position of nickel in Ash's defense is the "spur".
- Herman agreed with a commenter that Moro Ojomo is underrated.
- One thing I didn't know is that Jay Valai was a trainer in Dallas who is tied into all the private trainers and coaches up there in the metroplex. Lots of recruiting ties. Those guys like Clay Mack and David Robinson, etc, all work with the future NFL kids and knowing them and trusting they'll not BS you is something I've always found super-helpful, I can only imagine how much it would mean to a coach.
"That's a huge misnomer for fans"
- That it is somebody's offense. Herman said you have to play to the strengths of your personnel. He said everything done offensively will have his seal of approval, but Yurcich have brought some really good ideas and he's been open to allowing him to implement some of those ideas, however, Yurcich is learning "our language" terminology-wise to make things easier on the players. "I can't tell you how pleased I've been with Mike Yurcich," Herman said. Called it a "match made in heaven."
Who do you want on the bench?
- Herman's answer to those asking why it shouldn't be a rule that Jake Smith and Jordan Whittington should both be on the field at the same time. My answer to his question would be basically anybody not named Eagles as for the wide receiver position. He also said both players are built to be slot WRs right as his computer's battery went out.
What a hell of a win it was for OB and our community to get an opportunity like this. Hope you enjoyed it as much as us and thanks so much to Tom Herman and the Texas SID department as well as @Anwar Richardson and @Ketchum for making it happen.
